Vision to Value - Hair and beauty brand Rush on track to be a cut above the rest

Vision to Value - Hair and beauty brand Rush on track to be a cut above the rest

The secret to Rush’s success is the enduring appeal of a good haircut, jokes co-founder Andy Phouli. “You can’t get your hair cut online and it doesn’t stop growing in a recession,” he says. “Even in hard times, people want to look good.”

The company, which was founded in 1994, now boasts 91 salons nationwide including one in prime position on Reading’s Queen Victoria Street. Earlier this year it raised £16m in growth finance from LDC to help meet its ambition of hitting 100 stores by the end of 2017.

“After that, we want to double in size,” Phouli reveals. Rush is predominately focused in the South East, but has expanded its reach to northern cities in recent years.

“I’m a hairdresser so I know this market and what consumers want,” he says. “We started as a single salon, and look where we are now. Doubling our salon count is within our reach, even more so now that we have LDC on board and we’re putting together a key team to make that happen.”